The Air Force Wants More Fighter Squadrons

The U.S. Air Force, whose combat and personnel strength has been in decline since the end of the Cold War, wants to start growing again by adding five more fighter squadrons.

The statement was made by Air Force spokesman Patrick Ryder to defense reporters earlier this week. According to Ryder, the Air Force had 134 fighter squadrons in 1991, the year the Gulf War took place. That number has since declined to 55.

Ryder also pointed out that the Air Force in 1991 had 510,000 active duty personnel, compared to the 311,000 of today. Several air power advocates, including recently departed Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh, warned that the service is about "40,000 to 60,000" personnel short of what it needs to carry out existing missions.

The decline in fighter squadrons is mostly linked to the end of the Cold War and the so-called "peace dividend" that reduced the defense budget during the 1990s. New fighter planes weren't purchased and the emphasis was on flying Cold War veterans such as the F-15C air superiority fighter, F-15E Strike Eagle strike aircraft, and the F-16C Fighting Falcon multi-role fighter.

Older planes were retired without replacement, and squadrons were shuttered. The F-22 Raptor was cut from 790 combat aircraft to just 187. The five year delay in fielding the Joint Strike Fighter has exacerbated the problem since the Air Force was supposed to have several hundred F-35s in service by now.

All of these problems are coming to a head now, and the result is, as Ryder also pointed out, an Air Force that is the "smallest and oldest (in aircraft age) in our history".

A buildup of five squadrons is fairly modest, representing at most about 75-80 more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters amounting to about seven billion dollars in additional spending. That's only half of the equation though, as the personnel to fly and maintain those planes will cost billions more.

Oddly, Ryder made no mention of paying for a larger fighter force out of overall defense increases during the Trump Administration but instead mentioned BRAC—the Base Realignment and Closure Committee. During the late 80s and early 90s, in the interests of consolidating the armed services, eliminating unnecessary bases, and reducing redundancy, BRAC closed dozens of military bases and merged others. The Air Force apparently thinks it can operate a larger force at fewer bases.

The service also has a huge list of other programs pushed back by budget cuts, including a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the B-21 Raider bomber, the T-X jet trainer, KC-46 Pegasus tanker, and a new sixth-generation fighter known as Penetrating Counter-Air. If the Trump administration lavishes the Pentagon with funds an Air Force buildup is likely, but new squadrons still have a lot of competition for those dollars.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Popular Mechanics participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.